Page 243 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

88 men, 12 women.

In L.C.C. casual wards and hostels, 674 men, 15

women.
[* This must be an underestimate. Still, the proportions
probably hold good.]
It will be seen from these figures that at the charity level
men outnumber women by something like ten to one. The
cause is presumably that unemployment affects women less
than men; also that any presentable woman can, in the last
resort, attach herself to some man. The result, for a tramp,
is that he is condemned to perpetual celibacy. For of course
it goes without saying that if a tramp finds no women at his
own level, those above —even a very little above—are as far
out of his reach as the moon. The reasons are not worth dis-
cussing, but there is no doubt that women never, or hardly
ever, condescend to men who are much poorer than them-
selves. A tramp, therefore, is a celibate from the moment
when he takes to the road. He is absolutely without hope of
getting a wife, a mistress, or any kind of woman except—
very rarely, when he can raise a few shillings—a prostitute.
It is obvious what the results of this must be: homosex-
uality, for instance, and occasional rape cases. But deeper
than these there is the degradation worked in a man who
knows that he is not even considered fit for marriage. The
sexual impulse, not to put it any higher, is a fundamental
impulse, and starvation of it can be almost as demoraliz-

Down and Out in Paris and London